Greta Thunberg Tells Black Friday Shoppers: ‘Don’t Buy Stuff You Don’t Need’

Teenage climate change activist Greta Thunberg urged consumers to avoid buying things they do not need on Black Friday.

“School strike week 119. Today is black Friday. Overconsumption is wrecking present and future living conditions and the planet itself. Don’t buy stuff you don’t need,” she wrote on Twitter:

While many of Thunberg’s followers agreed with her, others did not.

“I hate to do this, but I NEED a PS5,” one user commented.

“I don’t take orders from clueless adolescents,” another person said.

Despite Thunberg’s warnings, consumer spending has been strong since the economy began reopening amid the coronavirus pandemic, writes Breitbart News’s John Carney:

Many consumers are feeling flush, their wealth boosted by a stock market that has pushed the S&P 500 up 65 percent since the lockdown low in March and soaring home values. Money not spent on trips, sports games, movies, or eating out has apparently gone into the purchase of consumer goods and contributed to savings accounts of many households.

“Black Friday was traditionally the day when many retailers first turned a profit for the year,” Carney noted.

However, those promoting Black Friday sales appeared not to draw the same size crowds this year as in previous years.

“While the hustle and bustle of the holiday season has not completely disappeared, it is demonstratively lower this year due to fears, protocols, and limitations caused by the Chinese coronavirus pandemic,” Breitbart News reported.

Photos and video footage shared online showed small crowds and a few relatively empty parking lots:

Fortune magazine senior writer Phil Wahba called New Jersey’s Newport Centre mall a “ghost town”:

In another tweet on Friday, Thunberg claimed, “The climate- and ecological crisis will only worsen by encouraging people to buy things they don’t need”:

She then urged her followers to donate to organizations and funds “supporting people in the most affected areas suffering from the climate- and ecological crisis.”